May 7, 2012

Recall candidate Kathleen Falk says: "It takes mom to get people back together. That’s how families do it."

More gender politics:
Falk characterized herself as a woman who has broken through anti-women barriers and glass ceilings all her life, a woman with a “big-tent” theory of bringing people together.

“We just want our opportunity to do what the men have had their opportunity to do,” the 60-year-old mother said. “That’s what’s fair. The fact that we haven’t had a woman governor in 164 years is a little bit lame. I say, if not now, when? But I believe I am the most qualified of all the candidates.”
Speaking of lame! That's the lamest argument I've heard in a long, long time.  Elect me, I'm the female?

You know, she actually does have credentials and experience, but apparently, the voters are too stupid to receive relevant information. Women, women, women. God help us. Have we become a nation of morons?

To be fair, she did also say she had an idea to create jobs "in the wood-pulp industry by finding new uses for that resource, including for jet fuel."

ADDED: Get on your jet plane. It looks like this.

51 comments:

Matt Sablan said...

Isn't the Lt. Gov. that is being recalled a woman? Shouldn't she have an opportunity to do what the men have had their opportunity to do? Who is running against her?

SGT Ted said...

Shut up, stupid Falk woman. Quit trying to infantilize the electorate with your appeal to Government as Parent to Constituents as Children. Its fucking creepy.

"NO WIRE HANGERS!"

No one is electing "Mom", unless they are truly mentally ill. They are electing a Governor.

Hopefully, it's not you, Falk. Goddam weird creepy bitch.

Abdul Abulbul Amir said...

Given the stupidity of the wood to jet fuel idea, she should stick to thw "I'm a woman" schtick.

Bob Ellison said...

Walker is insensitive to people who can't walk.

Kevin said...

Of course you know when we became a nation of morons, right?

August 18, 1920.

(just joking, don't get hysterical)

(ok that hysterical thing was a joke too, don't get your panties in a -- you know, I'll just stop)

I'm Full of Soup said...

"Vote for me because it is my turn!"

Rosalyn C. said...

We're so accustomed to think about power in patriarchal terms, it's almost done almost unconsciously. What do we look for in a leader? Strength, physical prowess, dominance. Somehow pointing out that "mom" has the power to bring people together, organize, resolve conflicts and solve problems creatively is not OK. The default position is that it's OK to be a man, it's not OK to be a woman when it comes to important positions in many people's minds, even now. Isn't it time for people to reevaluate their assumptions about leadership?

MadisonMan said...

Let's hear it for the Forest Products Lab!!!

TosaGuy said...

If future female Dem candidates for governor run as Falk is running, then the first female governor of Wisconsin will be a Republican.

traditionalguy said...

She has a good point. The people in Wisconsin definitely seem to need a Governess.

And what if she was a Sioux Indian. What better qualifications could there be for a Law Professor teaching others to sue people.

Sadly, she actually seems to believe believe her heroine of the oppressed tribe of women story.

Matt Sablan said...

"The default position is that it's OK to be a man, it's not OK to be a woman..."

Why do you think a woman can't have strength, physical prowess or show dominance, or is that you think dads can't bring people together, organize, resolve conflicts and solve problems creatively?

Scott M said...

"It takes mom to get people back together. That’s how families do it."

OH FUCKING BULLSHIT ON STILTS! The implication that fathers are unable to lead is palpable. More of the "war on men" but that's not surprising in the least. If Falk had big tits, she'd make this about Walker's lack of big tits.

Moms live in the same house dads do. When the stress levels ratchet up to near intolerant, it takes BOTH parents to "bring the family back together". Sometimes "mom" is about to loose her friggin mind, just like dads do sometimes, and, thankfully, it almost never happens simultaneously. In my own family and watching my parents go at (speaking as a chief cause of stress in the later case), it takes the parent that NOT about to loose a gear to bring the one that IS back down to sensibility.

WHY IS IT THAT LIBS/PROGS ARE ALWAYS THE ONE'S HARPING ABOUT IDENTY?

TWM said...

Actually, what America - and Wisconsin - need is a father. Father's are usually, though not always, the disciplinarians. They cut to the chase and kick ass when it needs kicking. Moms are usually, again not always, the unconditional love.

Wisconsin is showing great progress with Dad kicking union butt and getting the fiscal house in order. The last thing it needs is Mom coming in and ruining everything.

Same goes for America. Mommy, err, I mean Barry (come on, he does wear "mom jeans"} is killing us with his kindness and having the government fix all our boo-boos, instead of kicking our asses and telling us to man-up and get back to work.

Personally I would rather a stronger male role model than Romney but compared to Barry he's the fricken Hulk.

Scott M said...

Isn't it time for people to reevaluate their assumptions about leadership?

Most people only have one real requirement for leadership. That crap you mentioned is onion-skin thin. Effectiveness is the only real measure people have when everyone's down to brass tacks. Couching her bid for election in terms of one gender or another is ridiculous pandering. If you support her point of view on the subject, I would submit that a) you came from a single-parent, mother-run household, b) you don't have any kids yourself, or c) both of the above.

Let's add d) you lived in or live in a mom/dad/kids family, but it's hopelessly dysfunctional.

Snark aside, reality is that both moms and dads exhibit leadership in constantly adjusting ways. Moms and dads are equal parts disciplinarian and nurturer. It depends on the situation. Sure, some families might have one parent more strict than the other, but it's not always the father.

Jane said...

Can you just imagine if any male politician had said, "It takes a Dad to get a family back together?"

It would be a bloodbath.

C.S. Lewis: "...as far as I can see, even a woman who wants to be the head of her own house does not usually admire the same state of things when she finds it going on next door. She is much more likely to say "Poor Mr. X! Why he allows that appalling woman to boss him around the way she does is more than I can imagine."

Rosalyn C. said...

So why are woman so disproportionately unrepresented in Congress and why are we still unable to imagine a woman being President?

kjbe said...

Elect me, I'm the female?...Have we become a nation of morons?

Well, no, a lot of us aren't listening to this gibberish, as 'lame' as it is.

Michael Haz said...

My mom never taxed my allowance to balance the family budget.

Scott M said...

So why are woman so disproportionately unrepresented in Congress

There are a myriad of reasons, but not being able to see them as members of congress clearly isn't one of them. As far as this,

and why are we still unable to imagine a woman being President?

...it smacks of projection. I have not problem imagining a female president and haven't since I grew up with one M. Thatcher in the world. A lot of people supported Hillary on the left and a lot of people on the right were worried she would be elected, but those on the right I knew that were worried weren't worried because of her plumbing. It was because she's only slightly right of Obama.

Matt Sablan said...

Everyone seems fine with seeing some women as president. We had Clinton run and a draft Palin movement.

The only people wondering why we can't see a woman as president seem to have totally missed presidential politics since about 2004, when the first rumblings of Hillary! started.

The Crack Emcee said...

Women, women, women. God help us. Have we become a nation of morons?

Yes, and I've been telling you that for years now. And laying the blame at the feet of women, too. Women, and the idiot men who've followed them, will be the death of us all.

Death to us all!

That's all I got,....

Seeing Red said...
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Seeing Red said...

---We're so accustomed to think about power in patriarchal terms, it's almost done almost unconsciously. What do we look for in a leader? Strength, physical prowess, dominance. Somehow pointing out that "mom" has the power to bring people together, organize, resolve conflicts and solve problems creatively is not OK. The default position is that it's OK to be a man, it's not OK to be a woman when it comes to important positions in many people's minds, even now. Isn't it time for people to reevaluate their assumptions about leadership?----


Thanks for the laugh. 1 of my besties told me back in 2004 women shouldn't be allowed to vote, I've come to agree with her.

We're living in a womens' world. The rest of the world isn't.

I don't want nor need her as my mom. How insulting.

Talk about Identity politics.

Seeing Red said...

Ferraro didn't lose because she was a woman, she lost because of her running mate.

Seeing Red said...

--So why are woman so disproportionately unrepresented in Congress and why are we still unable to imagine a woman being President?---


Only the right sort of woman is allowed to be president.


As to why they're underrepresented?

Why do I flash back to the Larry Summers comment and the fainting couches brought out?

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Wood pulp spelled backwards is plup doow.

Known Unknown said...

Lil' Falk!

edutcher said...

Actually, most feminists run on this sort of rationale.

MadisonMan said...

So why are woman so disproportionately unrepresented in Congress ...?

Gerrymandering.

Gerry Ferraro Mandering.

SGT Ted said...

So why are woman so disproportionately unrepresented in Congress and why are we still unable to imagine a woman being President?

Because far too many women view positions of political power as a platform to inflict their whims on other people to force them to conform to female sensibilities and desires (it takes a Mom), rather than protect all citizens Civil Rights from Government intrusion and coersion.

Far too many women see Government as merely an extension of their daddy/boyfriend/husband who must support them financially and to enact their wishes and desires and cater to their sensibilities. They use government as a coersive tool with a one way ratchet that always elevates womens desires over that of mens individual rights.

Thats why we see women demanding subsidized abortions and day care and contraception, now that some women are in power. More wealth to women from the rest of us, because they demand it. Nevermind that men never had those considerations when they were the primary supporters of the family. Women are to be catered to so they can have it all, paid for by the rest of us.

It's why Sarah Palin is so popular; she actually articulates limits to the Will to Power and the primacy of Individual Rights over Government Control and coersion.

Too many women confuse "leadership" with "making men do what the women want them to do" as if they were running a household.

People with that sort of attitude about their fellow citizens have no business being in positions of power. That men do it merely speaks to the need to remove THEM from office, not to elect women like that to office to make things "fair".

Peter said...

If she's our mommy, then members of public-sector unions are obviously her favorite children.

And the rest of us? We're the unwanted stepchildren (who richly deserve to have our resources taken to better support her favorites).

Just so we all understand the "family dynamics" here.

Bryan C said...

"So why are woman so disproportionately unrepresented in Congress and why are we still unable to imagine a woman being President?"

Because Congress is an elected body, and not stocked via "proportional" representation based on arbitrary qualities of your choosing?

As for a woman president, speak for yourself. I wanted Hilary to win.

Velocon said...

In our Wisconsin family, Falk & her supporters are the tantruming 2-year olds who just had their candy taken away. Gov. Walker is the adult in the room.

Bob B said...

Matthew Sablan said...
Isn't the Lt. Gov. that is being recalled a woman?


No, she is a conservative Republican, and conservative Republicans cannot be women.

MadTownGuy said...

She's using the issue du jour; it is no longer about workers' rights but about the so-called "war on women.". Expect to see a lot more about this after the primary election, and in the presidential campaign. It's a facile argument against pretty much anything their opponents are for.

Rosalyn C. said...

1. "Why can't a woman be more like a man?" i.e., getting other people do give them what they want -- isn't that the very definition of power?

2. I'm trying to imagine an American version of Margaret Thatcher. Any suggestions?

ndspinelli said...

R Chatt, Jeane Kirkpatrick was our Thatcher. I can't think of anyone currently.

Scott M said...

1. "Why can't a woman be more like a man?" i.e., getting other people do give them what they want -- isn't that the very definition of power?

You've obviously never been single and in a bar, have you? If you had you would know that your 1. smells like number two.

Matt Sablan said...

Isn't the whole point of the "Why Can't A Woman Be More Like a Man?" song in My Fair Lady to humorously highlight Higgins' personality traits that he associates with women (he yells at Eliza, he complains incessantly, etc.?)

SGT Ted said...

I think of a man and then, I remove accountability and reason.

Palladian said...

Cause when love is gone, there's always justice... And when justice is gone, there's always force... And when force is gone, there's always Mom..."

Kevin said...

Why, one can go for years on the internet without a good Laurie Anderson tie-in.

+1

Blue@9 said...

--So why are woman so disproportionately unrepresented in Congress and why are we still unable to imagine a woman being President?---

Because the higher the office, the greater and more ruthless the ambition required to achieve it. Women too are ambitious, but far fewer of them reach that outlier level required to run for national office.

Michael Haz said...

Heh. It looks like it's not one big happy family in Mom Falk's Dem Party. Biggie rally in Madison is cancelled, and the Kossacks are pissed.

BarrySanders20 said...

Well that logic has convinced me. I will vote for Falk in the primary tomorrow, and then for Walker in the general.

First Falker, then Walker.

Known Unknown said...

I think of a man and then, I remove accountability and reason.

SGT. TED FTW.

Scott M said...

Can FTW's be movie quotes?

Peter V. Bella said...

"Have we become a nation of morons?"

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

leslyn said...
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leslyn said...
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leslyn said...
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